BRUSSELS (Reuters) -European wine and spirits will face a 15% tariff when entering the U.S. from Aug 1, until negotiators agree on a different deal in talks expected to continue in the autumn, EU officials and diplomats said on Thursday.
The U.S. tariff on European wine and spirits is now 10%. The European Union is keen to reduce that to zero, or, for wine at least, to the Most Favoured Nation (MFN) rates that are set on a fixed cost per litre basis, rather than in percentage terms.
Asked what tariff EU wine and spirits producers will face from August 1, unless a different deal is struck, an EU official close to the negotiations said: “15%.”
A senior diplomat close to the talks told Reuters that talks on wine tariffs would continue after the EU and U.S. finalise their joint statement on the framework trade deal that was agreed last Sunday between U.S. President Donald Trump and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
“(This will take place) probably in the autumn. My understanding is that they would go at the flat 15% rate. Less clear on spirits where I know there is an old agreement that should be still in force for zero, or MFN tariffs,” the diplomat said.
Spirits have benefited from zero tariffs between the United States and European Union since an agreement in 1997 that also included other countries such as Canada and Japan.
That lasted until 2018, when the EU response to Trump steel and aluminium tariffs included increased duties on U.S. bourbon and other spirits. These were suspended in 2021, during then-U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration.
U.S. MFN rates for wine are 19.8 cents per litre for sparkling and 6.3 cents per litre for most other wine, which equates to very low rates in most cases.
The EU has already envisaged a quota system for steel exports with U.S. MFN rates, which are very low or at zero.
(Reporting by Jan Strupczewski, Julia Payne and Phil Blenkinsop; editing by Mark Heinrich)
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